The Register has noted that AOL apologized for exposing the search data from their users:

“This was a screw-up, and we’re angry and upset about it,” AOL spokesman Andrew Weinstein said, AP reports. “It was an innocent enough attempt to reach out to the academic community with new research tools, but it was obviously not appropriately vetted, and if it had been, it would have been stopped in an instant.”

That is close to what I had expected would come out of this, as I mentioned before. But the apology is unlikely to cool the jets of the EFF, which has filed a complaint with the FTC. Perhaps most embarassing to AOL is the fact that the EFF is accusing them of violating their stated Privacy Policy. They are also arguing that AOL should not be allowed to store more than 14 days worth of search records on users. And that makes me wonder if AOL might eventually offer an interface like Scroogle for those who want to opt-out of AOL’s analytics/tracking.